Time to flower?

GrowBigOrGrowHome

GrowBigOrGrowHome

Well-Known Member
Hello,

Alright, so I realize that I have some questions that I could really use some help with. (I have no idea what strain this is.) I stated germinating the seeds on Feb. 29th, planted the srpouts about 10 days later.

1. Are they ready to flower? I read something about the branches starting to grow not directly across from each other, but alternating a bit when the plant is ready to flower. Does this hold true for all strains?



2. Do you think I should I top these plants and wait a week for them to heal before switching the nutes and the light cycle for flowering? I poured over the faq and I couldn't find anything on topping. I did a forum search and only found out how to do it but not necessarily when you should.



3. Are they ladies or is it still too early to tell?



Thanks in advance.
 
multisonic

multisonic

Well-Known Member
hey great job so far!
i cant tell if they are ladies or not with that pic. give em a few more days or more. you'll know when you see the pistils, or little white hairs developing. they look about like thread about 1/4-1/2 inch long.

you asked in your journal about topping. i top them 2 weeks before i go into flower and they really bush out in that 2 weeks. i just pluck off the tippy top most new growth with my thumbnail and forefinger.

what nutrients are you using?
 
GrowBigOrGrowHome

GrowBigOrGrowHome

Well-Known Member
Hey,

Thanks for the words of encouragement Multisonic!

Ok. I will hold off a few days at least. So it's normal for plants to show signs of sex before you start to flower them? I was a little surprised at that.

For nutrients, I've just been using this stuff every four days (water every other day.) It wasn't 20-5-5 like the newbie guide that Widow Maker wrote, but it was the correct ratio anyways. It was cheap (like $10) but it stinks to high heaven.

 
multisonic

multisonic

Well-Known Member
thats sounds like a pretty serious watering sched. make sure you're not overwatering. i know you have a meter but so did I and i overwatered til i got the hang of it. AKA got it through my thick head that more water isn't better. i have been watering once a week since about the 3rd week after sprouting i would say and it's working quite well for me. letting the soil dry out between waterings is a good thing, it will make the roots 'search' for water aka grow. as for nutes. i started with MG (big no-no) then i went to a 3 part by general hydroponics. since you are trying to keep costs down i would say that if what you are using is working for you then by all means keep doing it. keeping things simple is the best way to avoid problems. if you have some bucks to spend then do a little research on Fox Farm nutes. everyone swears by them. good luck man.... i'll keep an eye on this one......
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
To answer the topping question. Yes you can top them now. Be sure to wait a week or more. The two new branches should be about 2-3" tall (minimum) before putting into flower. You can top when the plant has between 5/6 nodes. I have done it earlier but it makes the plant super bushy and hard to contain.
 
GrowBigOrGrowHome

GrowBigOrGrowHome

Well-Known Member
Multisonic.

Thank you so much for your reply. I didn't realize that I was overwatering! I will cut back to once a week. Also, I've bit the bullet and pixed up some foxfarm nutes. I printed their chart off of their website. It looks like perhaps I'm behind schedule? (they say start flowering 4 weeks in.) Oh well. Again, thanks a bunch. That is really helpful advice.

SomeGuy. Based on your (and Multisonics) advice, I topped 'em. I did a bunch of looking online about how to do it and saw the FIM technique. Seemed simple enough. Fingers crossed, it's ok. Thanks for the advice and support.

I will start to flower them in two weeks. Hopefully that will be enough time for the plants to recover from topping them. So far, I don't see any new growth from where I topped them, but it's only been a couple of days. Patience patience. If you want to see what they looked like topped, I will have pics up in my grow journal.

Thanks again everyone.
 
Ativas

Ativas

Well-Known Member
You have some misconceptions going about a few things but I don't have time at the moment to explain. I'll try to get back later, but just to mention one thing ... new growth doesn't come from where you topped the plant. (Gawd I don't know how many people I've read this from now!) The 2 branches immediately below where you made the cut will take over as main colas, as opposed to the main stem that you cut, which would have been the (1) main cola otherwise. I really need to run ... I'd really like to see you understand about when to flower ... later. What are you using for lighting?
 
GrowBigOrGrowHome

GrowBigOrGrowHome

Well-Known Member
Thanks Ativas! I appreciate the help. I look forward to your follow up.

I have a 400w with a digital ballast. I'm using an MH conversion bulb and will switch to the HPS when I start to flower. You can see pics of my closet if you want at my journal. Just follow the link on my signature.

I think I got what you are saying about topping them and what will become the cola. With FIMming, arent' you supposed to get some 'bonus' branches out of the deal? Where do those come from? Or do I have that wrong?

I should have started flowering earlier maybe? I'm way confused on this. I've poured through the FAQ and didn't find out anything that was satifactory. Right now I'm operating under the assumptions that maybe it's dependent on what your final target size for the plant is. So if I want a 3 footer then I flower around 1.5 foot? But the foxfarm schedule says to stat flowering on week 5. I'm beginning week 7 now and told to wait two more weeks since I just now topped 'em. So I will be on week 9 before I start to flower. Am I just wasting electricity at this point? Or will I get more yield because I vegged for longer?

See? Confused.
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
GrowBigOrGrowHome said:
Thanks Ativas! I appreciate the help. I look forward to your follow up.

I have a 400w with a digital ballast. I'm using an MH conversion bulb and will switch to the HPS when I start to flower. You can see pics of my closet if you want at my journal. Just follow the link on my signature.

I think I got what you are saying about topping them and what will become the cola. With FIMming, arent' you supposed to get some 'bonus' branches out of the deal? Where do those come from? Or do I have that wrong?

I should have started flowering earlier maybe? I'm way confused on this. I've poured through the FAQ and didn't find out anything that was satifactory. Right now I'm operating under the assumptions that maybe it's dependent on what your final target size for the plant is. So if I want a 3 footer then I flower around 1.5 foot? But the foxfarm schedule says to stat flowering on week 5. I'm beginning week 7 now and told to wait two more weeks since I just now topped 'em. So I will be on week 9 before I start to flower. Am I just wasting electricity at this point? Or will I get more yield because I vegged for longer?

See? Confused.
Click to expand...
I will top a plant and post pics tonight or tomorrow. I will also FIM one and post a pic of that. I have some already done that are starting to come up. This should clear up your confusion. Your ok to veg longer if you have the vertical space to grow them. They double/triple in height during flower. you can veg for a very short time and go straight to 12/12 but yield for the individual plants will be much less. However, you can grow a lot more plants in a smaller space and use more of the light.
 
FrostickZero

FrostickZero

Well-Known Member
when you are topping a plant if you have the spare room you could take enough off the top aka topping but take that top and clone it

PS - I have never had problums with MG soil
 
FrostickZero

FrostickZero

Well-Known Member
SomeGuy said:
I will top a plant and post pics tonight or tomorrow. I will also FIM one and post a pic of that. I have some already done that are starting to come up. This should clear up your confusion. Your ok to veg longer if you have the vertical space to grow them. They double/triple in height during flower. you can veg for a very short time and go straight to 12/12 but yield for the individual plants will be much less. However, you can grow a lot more plants in a smaller space and use more of the light.
Click to expand...
yes and this method is called SOG and many small plants compated to 1 big plant can yeild close to the same amount if growen right
 
SomeGuy

SomeGuy

Well-Known Member
FrostickZero said:
yes and this method is called SOG and many small plants compated to 1 big plant can yeild close to the same amount if growen right
Click to expand...
Yes, the idea of keeping many smaller plants is part of the SOG method. However SOG requires that you would have an established cycle for each group of plants through each phase of growing from veg to harvest. I am not on such a schedule yet as I am finding what works best in my small space. Hopefully by fall I will be on some sort of schedule, but this is just for me and the gf so anything beyond what we smoke is stockpiled or given/sold away. OH SHIT I forgot to take pics and post about the top/fim. Busy ass 420 weekend...LOL. I will get on it tonight when the lights come on.
 
FrostickZero

FrostickZero

Well-Known Member
SomeGuy said:
Yes, the idea of keeping many smaller plants is part of the SOG method. However SOG requires that you would have an established cycle for each group of plants through each phase of growing from veg to harvest. I am not on such a schedule yet as I am finding what works best in my small space. Hopefully by fall I will be on some sort of schedule, but this is just for me and the gf so anything beyond what we smoke is stockpiled or given/sold away. OH SHIT I forgot to take pics and post about the top/fim. Busy ass 420 weekend...LOL. I will get on it tonight when the lights come on.
Click to expand...
I'm not on a SOG time yet either that's why I took alot of clones because that's gonna help to get me into doing the SOG
 
babylonburn

babylonburn

Well-Known Member
if you wanna top ure gonna need to veg a lil longer bout a week on 24 light...looks healthy,fish fert works wonders ii heard,keep it up an up
 
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